League of Women Voters, Dayton Area Chapter Records

The records within the Dayton Area League of Women Voters Collection fall naturally into eight series: (I) Administrative Records; (II) Newsletters; (III) Local Issues and Programs; (IV) State Issues and Programs; (V) National Issues and Programs; (VI) International Issues; (VII) Voter Guides; and (VIII) Scrapbooks.

Series I contains the Minute Record for the Dayton Area League since its inception in May of 1920 through 1970. Within the Minute Record are also various Committee reports, a monthly financial statement, and up until 1931, annual reports. Starting in 1932, Minutes of the Annual Meeting and Annual Reports are kept separately; and this record runs through 1971. Also contained in Series 1 are annual reports to the State and National League (1954-1965) and league Membership lists (1935-37 and 1945-57).

Series II has copies of the League's newsletters, The Dayton Women Citizen (1926-1956), The Dayton Voter/Voter (1957-1995) as well as the state level newsletters Ohio Voter and Statehouse Action. These newsletters contain announcements of League events, discussions of current political issues, information on local candidates, and various items of interest to League members and area voters. This series provides a fairly complete, chronological record of League activities and highlights the major issues and programs studied by the Dayton Area League and the Ohio League during the years 1926 through the 1980s. A nearly complete run of The Voter is also available for the year 1995, the 75th Anniversary Year. League press releases and radio and television transcripts are also included. Some non-league issue-related publications and correspondence complete this series.

Series III consists of various files covering local issues studied by League Members. Included are studies on local tax issues in Dayton and Kettering, county government revision, voting and local elections, studies of several local school districts, welfare, model cities, municipal courts, Dayton charter revision, zoning studies, children's issues and others. Also included in this series are Local Programs Books which outline a yearly plan of action, pin pointing issues that the Dayton Area League will concern itself with for a given year. The files in this series are limited to county, municipal, and school district issues and the span dates are 1927-1985.

State Issues and Programs, Series IV, contains information from studies on such subjects as Ohio Constitutional Revision, State Finances, State Courts, Education and Civil Service. State Program books are also included, and the span dates for this series are 1932-1979.

Series V and VI, National Issues and International Issues respectively, contain League studies on civil rights, atomic energy, water resources, taxation, Electoral College reform, Congressional reform, foreign policy, UNESCO, Chinese-America relations, mutual security, and international trade. Span dates for Series V, National Issues, are 1923-1978, and Series VI, International Issues, are 1951-1971.

Series VII contains the Voter Guides. These are annual newsprint publications that give detailed information about state and local political issues, candidates' biographies and position statements and other voters information. They are typically published and distributed several weeks before elections, usually in October. The series goes from April 1945 to November 1981. It is on microfilm and is filed as MFM-29. Voter Guides subsequently received as additions are available in paper form and span the years 1952-2000.

Series VIII, Scrapbooks, span from 1945 through the early 1970s. Some larger news clippings included in this series are dated from the 1980s.